This invention relates to printer devices, but more particularly to preparing a printer for efficiently cycling down and/or cycling up taking into account the medium transport speed.
Conventional printing machines having multiple modules use a fixed xe2x80x9cdeadxe2x80x9d waiting period in cycling down without taking into account what is actually occurring in the machine or within the respective modules that make up the machine. For example and with reference to FIG. 1, a conventional cycle down scheme considers the machine 10 to be a collection of xe2x80x9cnodesxe2x80x9d 12 and coordinates the cycle down sequence by dead waiting periods. A primary reason for using a dead waiting period is to ensure that all paper or other medium has exited transport paths (e.g., stacker top transport) of the respective module or node. As shown in FIG. 1, a typical machine 10 may have four nodes with each having an associated, predetermined dead waiting period for paper to clear its path. The dead waiting periods must be changed upon a change in the paper path or a change in transport speed of the machine 10. Dead waiting periods are not heretofore known to take into account the particular location or speed of the paper in the paper path when initiating a shutdown or start-up sequence.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a system and/or method of cycling the power of a printer up or down by controlling sections of the path which do not contain paper or other medium.
An object of the present invention is to fulfill at least the need mentioned above. In accordance with one principle of the present invention, the above and other needs are attained by a method of managing the path of a printable medium, e.g., paper path, in a printer. The method includes establishing a plurality of individual medium transports that each define a section of the path. At each transport, a determination is made as to when the path section thereof does or does not contain a medium, e.g., is empty. A transport is identified which has a path section that does not contain any printable medium. Based on the determination, the identified transport is then controlled so as to be cycled down or cycled up.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system for managing a medium path of a printer includes a printer having a plurality of individual transports. Each transport defines a section of the path for the medium. A sensor is associated with each transport to determine when the path section thereof does or does not contain any medium and to provide a signal indicating that the path section is clear of any medium. A controller is operatively associated with the transports to receive the signal, and based on that signal, to control those transports that are clear of any medium in the path section thereof.
Other features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as the methods of operation and the functions of the related elements of the structure, the combination of parts will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification.